Sunday, August 2, 2015

New Sparrow East Lansing opens doors for business

| Published 01/16/13 11:41pm

Sparrow’s new urgent care location, Sparrow East Lansing, 2682 E. Grand River Ave., opened its doors Jan. 16, 2013, to patients. Prior to moving to its larger location, the center was located at 2248 Mt. Hope Road, in Okemos. Darcie Moran/The State News

Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital opened the doors of the East Lansing Urgent Care clinic Wednesday, providing students and East Lansing residents access to another health care site within blocks of campus.

Sparrow East Lansing, 2682 E. Grand River Ave., broke ground last September and was completed about two weeks ago.

“(It’s) convenient for (students) being a couple blocks away from campus,” Sparrow spokesman John Tramontana said. “Sparrow wants to be able to get out into the communities.”

Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital is approximately 3 miles from campus — about an 8-minute drive.

The urgent care center was previously located at 2248 Mt. Hope Road, in Okemos, before it moved to its current, larger location.

The nearly two-mile move to the new location is more convenient “not only for students, but people in (the) community,” said Patricia Crowe, a doctor at Sparrow East Lansing.

The building has a lab test facility for patients to receive X-rays and blood tests.

With the deadly cases of flu striking the state of Michigan, Tramontana said flu vaccines also are available at the center, and supplies are stocked daily.

“(We) haven’t been anywhere close to running out,” he said.

Allyson Rogers, health promotion and communications specialist at Olin Health Center, said while Olin’s vision is to be the health and wellness resource for MSU students, they will continue to refer students to other medical venues if needed.

“We’d be more than happy to refer them to another medical facility if we were unable to provide the service necessary,” she said.

Although Olin is just a short walk away for many, students also can turn to Sparrow to treat a cut or get vaccinated against the flu.

“I would prefer to go to the new place,” hospitality business junior Emily Davis said. “It’s more of a trusted name in the area.”